Exactly how much more did pro skiers get paid in the early 2000s vs nowadays?

It seems like a pro skier nowadays doesn't make anywhere near as much as they used to. Jon Olssons balling now, sammy Carlson built a house in Revy, Tanner hall was balling in the mid 2000s and still is but in a different way. It seemed like the top guys made a ton more money back then than they do now. How much does henrik get paid these days anyway?

Any pros want to weigh in on this, I dont mean to pry into your personal finances, I'm just wondering how much less the industry pays nowadays versus ye olden 2000-2005?

I remember hearing on one of the Powell Movement podcasts that I think it was Shane Szocs...could have been another K2 athlete, was making close to 100k/year. I know he said he bought a pretty nice house with it. Apparently quite a few of the top athletes back then were making those kind of numbers.

Nowadays, you have to have a big name sponsorship to be getting any money at all from sponsors...

LivingDaLifeI remember hearing on one of the Powell Movement podcasts that I think it was Shane Szocs...could have been another K2 athlete, was making close to 100k/year. I know he said he bought a pretty nice house with it. Apparently quite a few of the top athletes back then were making those kind of numbers.

Nowadays, you have to have a big name sponsorship to be getting any money at all from sponsors...

I think in the early days of twin tips it seemed like the companies ‘team’ was so much more important. At the time it was like all these guys finally got the ear of the corporations and were getting one chance to make a twin tip, and a lot of people didn’t view them as real skis/real skiing. So having a pro be able to vouch was such a big deal.

LivingDaLifeI remember hearing on one of the Powell Movement podcasts that I think it was Shane Szocs...could have been another K2 athlete, was making close to 100k/year. I know he said he bought a pretty nice house with it. Apparently quite a few of the top athletes back then were making those kind of numbers.

Nowadays, you have to have a big name sponsorship to be getting any money at all from sponsors...

You gotta figure how many more "pros" there are now. When Shane was doing it, you could fit every pro into one poor boys movie. Now a days there is some new guy throwing a triple every week.

johnblazeYou gotta figure how many more "pros" there are now. When Shane was doing it, you could fit every pro into one poor boys movie. Now a days there is some new guy throwing a triple every week.

Exactly. Plus, brands spread their massive marketing budget across 100 athletes of varying levels of ability nowadays as opposed to just the guys appearing in movies every year back then. Social media is a big reason they've started to do this, but that should be pretty obvious by now.

My guess is that ski pros commanded the most $$$ in the late 2000s when Target and Toyota were spending big on athletes. (See Simon Dumont.)

A half dozen of today's top pros are still probably making as much as the top half dozen were making in the early 2000s. But the difference is that the next tier don't make shit compared to what the next tier down made back then. For example, Steele Spence. He mentioned on The Powell Movement that he was getting paid like $75k in the early 2000s. Steele was good back then; but he wasn't an A-list athlete the way Seth Morrison was. So how does the equivalent skier do now? Someone, like, say, Khai Krepala? Khai's probably not making $75k/year, that's for sure. My guess is $35k at the absolute most.

So the answer to the question is that the mid-tier ski salary has really been hollowed out.

I have a hunch that the death of cable and the rise of the internet had something to do with it too. X games will be less watched as cable dies off completely, and no one will pay for a ski movie anymore these days. Just not as much money involved now for those 2 reasons.

BigPurpleSkiSuitI have a hunch that the death of cable and the rise of the internet had something to do with it too. X games will be less watched as cable dies off completely, and no one will pay for a ski movie anymore these days. Just not as much money involved now for those 2 reasons.

I was under the impression that no one ever made anything off of ski movies...especially not the athletes. I'm pretty sure in the case of MSP and to a lesser extent, Level 1, the sponsors and/or athletes pay to be in the movies. I don't know about TGR.

I think the ski companies realized they weren't getting much back for their investment in athletes and that they could promote their product much more cheaply. The athletes who are getting the best deals are from non-ski companies. Look at Candide with Quicksilver for so long and now with Audi. Companies that don't just cater to skiing reach a large audience and make more money. North Face is the same thing, they can spend more since their product is more widely sold.

Early 2000's, the contest scene is where you made the money. 5,000-15,000$ cash prize used to exist and the pros have to earn their living as an athlete. Remember that most of these guys were super shady and couldn't hold down a regular job...so they put their focus on skiing,

Today it seems like you have to own your business to be a professional skier.

AstroKushI wondered about the health insurance part.. The current rates is astronomical & hope their sponsors offers some sort of health insurance plans because of the amount of injuries pros gets from skiing.

I know its crazy but most live in countries with UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE so they only have to pay for insurance a few weeks a year while traveling which is a fraction of a fraction of what we pay here in this shit hole of a country.

LivingDaLifeI was under the impression that no one ever made anything off of ski movies...especially not the athletes. I'm pretty sure in the case of MSP and to a lesser extent, Level 1, the sponsors and/or athletes pay to be in the movies. I don't know about TGR.

I think the ski companies realized they weren't getting much back for their investment in athletes and that they could promote their product much more cheaply. The athletes who are getting the best deals are from non-ski companies. Look at Candide with Quicksilver for so long and now with Audi. Companies that don't just cater to skiing reach a large audience and make more money. North Face is the same thing, they can spend more since their product is more widely sold.

TGR does same thing. Sponsors pay for their athletes to be in the film. Remember when Sage and Ian Mac left Rossi? Rossi didn't want to pay but Atomic and Volkl did.
Also, Nick McNutt went onto Atomic because of their contract with TGR.
TGR loves Sammy but he's not featured in every TGR film because his sponsors don't put up the bucks.

@LANTASKIShane also owned High North which folded in the latter aughts...

But as everyone else said...pretty much every "Pro" was either in MSP, TGR, PBP, or Level 1's movies. There were maybe 100 "Pros" between 2001-2006, which meant money was more consolidated.

My guess is that this post and the one above it are pretty accurate. There are FAR more guys now. But remember, those guys in 2000 were not for the most part making THAT much money. Gordy Pfeiffer was one of the top guys, skiing big mountain for both MSP and TGR, and he was making around 60k or something like that. Most of the guys back then were not making all that much, same as now.

There is another factor when you mention buying houses. The housing market has exploded since then, so a guy who was making 80k a year in 2000 probably could have purchased a condo in Tahoe. Now that is probably not the case.

I do think that, particularly in the park setting, the proliferation of social media has led to more athletes, and dividing revenue among more different guys. Also, guys specialize more now. Around 1999 you had Shane McConkey and Kent Kreitler in the xgames as well as filming big mountain parts. Tanner hall was doing that around 2007. Now the park events are so specialized that not only are few guys in the xgames filming big mountain, they are also only competing in either slopestyle OR pipe, not both.

I think there are probably more guys making a lot now though. It just does not seem that way because there are SO many guys who are sponsored. Over saturation of the market has occurred compared to how things were then.

Henrik Windstedt makes a lot. Or at least he used to. He made enough that he moved to Monte Carlo for his permanent residence for tax purposes. I assume you mean Harlaut though, I don't know how much he makes.

Sep 19 2018 4:56PM

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